Russian football fans, who have already become notorious in the society over their scandalous escapades, inflicted serious wounds to Dynamo goalkeeper Anton Shunin at a match in the Moscow regional town Khimki on Saturday.
The Russian football was shocked with another high-profile incident related with the hooligan conduct of the fans, the Kommersant daily reported. The Premier League match between Dynamo Moscow and Zenit St. Petersburg in Khimki on Saturday was stopped, after the flare hurled from the sector of the Zenit fans exploded near Dynamo goalkeeper Anton Shunin. As a result the footballer, who got a cornea burn, was hospitalized. The Khimki police have already opened a criminal case over illegal actions of the fans. Young women, who had brought pyrotechnical units in “the intracavitary way”, are suspected of this crime. Over the crime Zenit will certainly be punished severely by the controlling disciplinary committee of the Russian Football Union with a 0:3 forfeit defeat and a major fine. But the experts are not sure that the problem of violence, which is reigning at the Russian stadiums this autumn, can be solved with tough sanctions and even the enactment of the law on fans.
The Khimki incident became the second one for a very short period of time – 1.5 months, when the use of the pyrotechnical units by the fans disrupted the Russian football match. In late September a 1/16 playoff game of the Russian Cup between Torpedo and Dynamo was stopped, a forfeit defeat was handed down on Torpedo, whose fans were hurling firecrackers on the pitch. But then the pyrotechnics did not do any harm to the health of any participant in the match. Dynamo goalkeeper Anton Shunin was injured in Khimki.
It was reported later that the Dynamo goalkeeper got quite serious wounds. After the medical examination Anton Shunin was diagnosed with cornea, eyelid and conjunctiva of both eyes burns and the post-traumatic otitis of the right ear with a lower hearing ability. The doctors stated that his treatment will take 10-12 days.
Meanwhile, the high-profile scandal in Khimki has already gone beyond the purely football framework, the newspaper reported. The main Moscow regional police department of the Russian Interior Ministry reported that the criminal case for hooliganism was opened over the infliction of wounds on Anton Shunin, moreover, the criminal case is under special control of the Interior Ministry.
The police do not want to take the Khimki incident as a separate, extraordinary case. On Sunday, it was reported that the Interior Ministry had drafted an address to the Russian Football Union, insisting on the investigation into the reasons, which “instigate the fans to commit illegal actions.” The ministry noted a growing number of such illegal actions at the football matches in Russia and the fact that the regulations of the Russian Premier League also envisages responsibility of the organizers for ensuring security at the matches. The police noted that the latter frequently “neglect their duties”, and actually do not give any assistance to the law enforcement agencies.